Preparing to Move Abroad: What I’ve Bought

Unfortunately, my preparations for moving abroad haven’t solely been in acquiringmoney from my old items. I’ve had (or wanted) to buy some things to prepare for the move abroad.

HydroFlask 18oz Water Bottle– Obviously not a necessity. I come from a place where heat isn’t lacking (the other day I got burned by a penny left on the driver’s seat of my car) so I know the joy that can be brought to a warm body by icy water. My dad keeps joking that my family should get paid to sponsor these water bottles because by now we all have one. However, as an avid water drinker, I’m certain I’ll be happy to have a high quality water bottle while in Spain.

Travel Adapter– After my sister made the mistake this summer of buying a converter that would only accept a 2 prong input, I searched Amazon for one that would fit a three prong laptop plug so I wouldn’t be stuck with a dead brick. I ordered this one and while mine is blue, it seems like it’ll serve me well in the months ahead.

Luggage– I feel very grown up now that I have my own luggage. Until now, I’ve used suitcases from the family reserve that includes ones belonging to my father and my grandmother. However, I felt it unfair to keep a suitcase with me for the next eight months that belonged to someone else, and so I took the plunge of buying my own. I chose hard-sided because they seem much more durable than soft-sided. I’ve used the smaller one of this set so far and I love the four wheel gliders– it’s so easy to wheel it around and it’s narrow enough to push through an airplane aisle.

Portable Safe– After trying to figure out a good way to keep my valuables secure while I’m in my future apartment, my research led me to these travel safes. They seem rather hardy, and the pouch gives you a fair amount of flexibility and a lot of peace of mind.

Portable Charger– Given that I use my phone as a book, videogame, internet browser, GPS AND telephone, its battery sometimes can’t handle what I put it through. This portable charger (in luxe gold too!) claims it’ll charge my phone five times and that’ll certainly come in handy on long days and weekend trips. Edit: after using this charger until the battery was 100% drained, I’ve been VERY impressed with it. I definitely recommend it!

Luggage Strap– Europe does not have as many elevators as the United States, and my luggage (as it should be) is limited to what I can easily carry myself. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t make that a little easier on myself with this little strap with which I can connect my suitcases if need be. I’m used to traveling with a big family in which there’s always a second (or third or fourth) set of hands to grab the extra bag, but I’ll have to make do with this substitution.

Hanging Luggage Scale– Overweight bags are expensive, and I don’t like wasting money on fees. While this little tool adds a little weight to your bag, it can help keep some weight in your wallet, which is always something I appreciate. Its so much easier to be able to know exactly how much extra weight in souvenirs you can cram into your bag.

Phone Ring– After hearing a few horror stories about people’s phones being taken right out of their hands on the street, I decided a little extra security on mine would be worth it. This ring attaches itself to the back of your phone or its case and helps you hold onto it better. You can even fold it down to act as a stand!

I wasn’t sure of the packing cube craze. I’d read a ton of blogs debating the pros and cons of packing cubes and my mom and I weren’t quite convinced they’d do much better than Ziploc bags. However, I just watched this video in which a woman packs over a 100 items in a tiny suitcase using packing cubes. This pretty much converted me! I then went back to the internet and tried to figure out the best packing cube sets and discovered that there are many sizes of packing cubes, and slim and regular versions. I found a set that was a variety of sizes and settled on them. Hopefully these help me compress all the things I need to take with me!